Have a small nano with a gooseneck fixture and reef LED bulb that is clipped onto a nearby bookshelf hanging over on top that has worked nicely. As luck would have it, the perfectly fitting glass cover that hangs on the little holders clipped on the top and provides about a 1/8" space for air around the top broke. So... the question was what to do.
I went to the hardware store and found a 12x12 sheet of acrylic that will cover about 90% of the top of the tank leaving an inch exposed on the back where the HOB filter is (have an extra for my filter media and extra water movement) and cords out for my second in tank filter and heater. This seems to be an acceptable solution except now there is more space in the back where ambitious snails may be able to get out (unless I cut the sheet to fit more precisely. But I think this should be fine and provides more than enough space for air to filter in and out.
I've read all the arguments about not covering and I already see the evaporation condensing on the top. I may punch a few small holes in there. But there are some significant advantages with a cover IMHO.
1) Washing it off every few days is easy. That should never prevent you from not having one.
2) It can be VERY handy should things potentially fall on top of the tank, including lighting when you're away. (Actually had a failure of a lamp before as well as something that went flying in the air... and landed on top of the cover.)
3) It prevents a great deal of evaporation. In small nano tanks managing this can be a major hassle and minimizing it means minimal addition of RODI or distilled water and endless testing.
4) On my tank, more than enough light seems to get in anyway. Controlling the awful hair algae is a much bigger problem (yes, my phosphate levels are down and it still seems to thrive, requiring periodic toothbrushing, blowing away debris, etc.)
5) Space is large enough to drop in the liquid food I may drop in once a week and occasionally a small piece of crab food for my mithrax.
I'm pretty sure I know about the negatives but, from what I can see, the positives clearly outweigh not having a cover on a small tank unless you've got it isolated, you don't experience too much evaporation and you don't expect to be away often. Just curious if anyone vehemently disagrees here.
I went to the hardware store and found a 12x12 sheet of acrylic that will cover about 90% of the top of the tank leaving an inch exposed on the back where the HOB filter is (have an extra for my filter media and extra water movement) and cords out for my second in tank filter and heater. This seems to be an acceptable solution except now there is more space in the back where ambitious snails may be able to get out (unless I cut the sheet to fit more precisely. But I think this should be fine and provides more than enough space for air to filter in and out.
I've read all the arguments about not covering and I already see the evaporation condensing on the top. I may punch a few small holes in there. But there are some significant advantages with a cover IMHO.
1) Washing it off every few days is easy. That should never prevent you from not having one.
2) It can be VERY handy should things potentially fall on top of the tank, including lighting when you're away. (Actually had a failure of a lamp before as well as something that went flying in the air... and landed on top of the cover.)
3) It prevents a great deal of evaporation. In small nano tanks managing this can be a major hassle and minimizing it means minimal addition of RODI or distilled water and endless testing.
4) On my tank, more than enough light seems to get in anyway. Controlling the awful hair algae is a much bigger problem (yes, my phosphate levels are down and it still seems to thrive, requiring periodic toothbrushing, blowing away debris, etc.)
5) Space is large enough to drop in the liquid food I may drop in once a week and occasionally a small piece of crab food for my mithrax.
I'm pretty sure I know about the negatives but, from what I can see, the positives clearly outweigh not having a cover on a small tank unless you've got it isolated, you don't experience too much evaporation and you don't expect to be away often. Just curious if anyone vehemently disagrees here.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire